Monday, August 9, 2010

Man alone among all living being walks erect because his nature and being are divine. Man is existing on earth since long. Since then he is walking in search of food and shelter. Then he started walking in search of new places. Now he has realized and is walking for health.

Every day four kilometers walk, five days a week, for ten consecutive months develop strong heart, which can push maximum amount of oxygenated blood in to circulation.

Man has incredible capacity. He knows the relation between body and mind. He knows the science of body metabolism. He has learnt to modify his body metabolism according to his needs. We will see which is the best method to accept, to modify our body metabolism. The persons who are doing regular exercises are one who are modifying there body metabolism.

It is amazing to note that a person, who can perform a long distance walk, cannot perform short duration, high intensity activity like weight lifting. Similarly a person who is on mission to build body, and who has developed excellent muscular strength, cuts sorry figure when asked to go for a long distance walk.

From this it is evident that there are two types of exercises that one can practice. A person who can perform long distance walk has practiced aerobic exercise, and the person who has practiced to develop excellent muscular strength has practiced anaerobic exercise.

Dr Kenneth. H. Cooper M.D.,MPH. an air force physician published his first worlds bestseller book on Aerobics in 1968. Since then the world is practicing the aerobics.

1.Types of exercises There are two types of exercises.A. aerobic exercise.

b. anaerobic exercise.

Aerobic exercise means exercise with oxygen that means muscles use oxygen during exercise.

Anaerobic exercise means exercise without oxygen. That means the muscles do not use oxygen during exercise.

Questions and answers

1. Which exercise is better aerobic or anaerobic?

1. Aerobic is the best exercise.

2. Can we practice both exercises one after the other to get maximum benefit?

2. Yes we can practice one after the other.

3. If so which is the first to be practiced?

3. Aerobic has to be practiced first for a period of five days a week for the period of ten months to get maximum effect. Then start practicing anaerobic exercise if one feels it’s necessary, so that one can get maximum benefits form anaerobic exercises also.

2. Differences between Aerobics and An-aerobics exercises.Meaning of aerobic and anaerobic

1. Aerobic means use of oxygen in working muscles.

1. During anaerobic exercise oxygen is not used by working muscles, because oxygen is not available for the muscles.

2. Oxygen need and supply

Oxygen need. It is the total amount of oxygen required by individual cell in the body for their nourishment.

Oxygen supply, Total amount of oxygen carried by the blood from the atmospheric oxygen through the lungs during aerobic exercise oxygen need is less than the oxygen supply. So there is no oxygen debt. Where as in anaerobic exercises oxygen need is more than oxygen supply .So there is always oxygen debt during anaerobic exercise.

3. Which are aerobic and anaerobic exercises?

Walking, running, jogging, swimming, dancing, skiing, cycling, rope skipping, rowing, stair climbing, skating are few examples of aerobic exercises, Where as weight lifting, rustling, boxing, like exercises where short out burst of power is need are examples of anaerobic exercises.

4. Fatigue.

Fatigue occurs less frequently in aerobic exercises than in anaerobic exercises.

In anaerobic exercise fatigue occurs always.

How does fatigue sets in ?When muscles contract continuously and repeatedly for long duration, there will be depletion of adenosine tri phosphate (ATP) from the muscles which leads to fatigue of the muscles. Again after some time after taking rest,there will be accumulation of adenosine tri-phosphate and fatigue disappears.

Does fatigue occurs in all types of muscles of the body?

No fatigue occurs in skeletal muscles only. It does not occur in intestinal muscles or heart muscles. Skeletal muscles are attached to bones and are concerned with movement of the body. These skeletal muscles are made up of fine filaments called acting and myosin. These filaments are arranged in interdigitating manner. During relaxation of muscle these filaments are set apart from one another. During contraction stage these filaments come closer and cause tension .The contraction occurs as a result of release of adenosine tri phosphate.

During aerobic exercises fatigue does not set in because exercises are not vigorous. But in anaerobic exercises fatigue sets in most of the times because they are sever and prolonged.

5. Lactic acid

Produced during aerobic exercise is less, and what ever produced is taken back by the blood. But during anaerobic exercises lot of lactic acid is produced and it is not possible for the blood to take it back into circulation .So it interferes in the functioning of the muscle.

6. Free radicals

Every atom is made up of protons and neutrons which are arranged at the center of atom and electrons orbit around center. Free radicals are atoms with unpaired electron in its outer orbit. Since they have unpaired electron they are highly reactive. So these free radicals cause damage to cells of body. Lot of such free radicals is generated during anaerobic exercises. For example the carbon dioxide produced is not taken back by the blood because of oxygen debt. But during aerobic exercise there is no oxygen debt. So free radicals generated are taken back by the blood.

7. Creatine phosphate and AT P (adenosine tri phosphate)

Creative phosphates are reserve source of phosphate bond energy. This phosphate bond energy is nothing but adenosine tri phosphate. (A.T.P) During aerobic metabolism 38 ASP’s are generated and in anaerobic metabolism only 2 Taps are generated form break down of each molecule of glucose molecule in presence of oxygen.

ATP’s are essential for contraction of muscle fiber. When there are no ATP’s fatigue sets in this leads to tiredness and poor performance. That means throughout our exercise we must see that there is enough amount of ATP’s in our body. Form above it is evident that it is better to do aerobic rather than anaerobic exercise.

8. After practicing anaerobic exercises

We get very well built muscles. So many people get attracted by this phenomenon. But after practicing aerobic exercise no muscular hypertrophy occurs.

Which is better?

9.Aerobic exercise diastolic blood pressure is lowered which is good for heart,

where as in anaerobic exercise diastolic blood pressure is increased , which is not good for heart. Among aerobic exercise walking is the best of all because of the following reasons.

1. Walking is so simple, that no training is needed.

2. Low impact exercise.

While running or jogging we will hit back the ground three times more than our body weight. That means if our body weight is 50 kg we will be hitting back the ground with 150 kg weight. .So the injuries are at high intensity. But while walking us hit back the ground equal or slightly more than the body weight. That means we will be hitting back the ground with 50kg or 70 kg weight. So the incidence of injuries is least. So walking is low impact exercise. So “walk in aerobics”

3.First aerobic and then anaerobic

A person, who has not yet started to do any type of exercises is not ready for heavy exercise. His heart, lungs, blood vessels, blood and muscles are not yet ready for heavy exercise. There cardio endurance level is low. To increase the cardio endurence level it is better to do aerobic exercise first. And not anaerobic exercise. Any how anaerobic exercise can be practiced after getting maximum benifits from aerobic exercise.

4. Aerobic capacity

Aerobic capacity is maximum amount of oxygen that is taken up by lungs and pushed by heart into blood circulation, so that maximum amount of oxygen reaches the individual cells of the body.

Aerobic capacity varies form individual to individual, and in the same individual it increases after regular practice of aerobic exercise. This practice has to be done regularly at least 5 days a week, for 8 to 10 months

5. Mechanism of increasing aerobic capacity by walking.This can be studied under following headings.

1) Increased Muscle Power (IMP)

2) Increased Venous Return (IVR)

3) Increase in Cardiac out Put.

4) Changes in respiratory system

5) Increase in blood hemoglobin.

1 Increased muscle power (IMP).

Whenever we start walking there will be contraction of skeletal muscle, the veins between them get squeezed, so that the deoxygenated blood from the tissues is pumped up against gravity. But during relaxation stage of walking due to gravitational force the blood in the veins starts to flow back. This is prevented by the valves presents in veins which open only up words and close when blood flows down. Thus during each contraction blood is pumped up. The quantity of blood pumped up increases day by day because the tone of muscle also increases and the muscle also gradually becomes stronger day by day.

2 Increased venous return (IVR). [Venous= related to veins...]

[Deoxygenated =without oxygen] We have seen so far how the deoxygenated blood is pumped up. But as we continue to walk day by day the muscle becomes stronger and stronger .this leads to increase in venous return towards heart. Muscles of legs are large group of muscles. So the quantity of blood pumped up is considerably more.

New concept of cardio strengthening exercise

3. Increase in cardiac volume of blood. (Cardiac = related to heart)

The heart receives more blood than what it was receiving before walking. This makes the heart to bulge. Let us deduce the increased cardiac volume as follows. Let the volume of blood received by heart during an individual beat, before walk in aerobics be V1. As we do walk in aerobics, the heart receives more blood as it is already described in above two stages 1.increased muscle power (IMP) and 2.increased venous return (IVR). Let us call this new increased volume of blood as V2 The heart muscle will have particular length before walk in aerobics, and will have increased new length after walk in aerobics. Let these lengths be L1 and L2 Now L2 is greater than L1 According to starling law of cardiac muscle the force of contraction is directly proportional to the initial length of muscle so the second length of heart muscle (L2) is more than the first length of heart muscle (L1). Definitely the force of contraction due to second length of heart muscle is more. So definitely there is more amount of blood is pushed out as compared to the first force of contraction. That means after aerobic exercise the force of contraction is more that is the reason the volume of blood ejected by heart goes on increasing as we walk in aerobics. This has some limits , and the cardiac out put remain constant after some period of regular walking. As the volume of blood is increased the work load over heart is reduced, because heart has to beat less time than earlier. And the heart rate will come down. All this things will not take place all of a sudden. It will take at least ten months to attain low heart rate.

4 Changes in respiratory system.

Respiratory system consists mainly nose, throat, and lungs. The air we breathe in is taken up by lungs. Lungs contain many small balloons like things called alveoli .Alveoli receive air from lungs and also deoxygenated blood from body through small pipes called capillaries. During passive breathing some of alveoli are partially ventilated and some are not at all ventilated, here oxygen from air gets into the capillaries and carbon dioxide from capillaries gets into the alveoli, so that carbon dioxide can get excreted during expiration.

5. Increase in Blood hemoglobin.

The red blood cells in the blood contain hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is responsible to carry oxygen from air in the lungs to the all tissues in the body. It is essential to have optimum amount of hemoglobin in the blood. If it is low it is better to consult a doctor and get treated. Any how b y regular walk in aerobics the blood hemoglobin gradually increases.

The changes in all the above five steps will go on increasing as we go on practicing the walk in aerobics regularly. Now we are ready to push in maximum amount of oxygen from air through lungs and heart. And thus we will be increasing our aerobic capacity. So that no oxygen debt is produced. Walking has to be done at least five days a week it is to be done at the same time every day initially warm up for five minutes to be done. There should be uniform speed while walking. While walking if as soon as breathless appears, we have to reduce the speed of walking. So there is no need to take rest, and we can continue walking.

6. Before start to walk.

IT IS BETTER TO BE CHECKED BY THE DOCTOR, BEFORE WE START WALK IN AEROBICS.

If we develop any of the following signs during walk in aerobics we must consult physician.

a. Breathless.

b. Fluttering sensation in chest

.c. Nausea or vomiting which repeatedly comes after walking.

D. discomfort in the chest followed by choking sensation in neck,

e. Pain in left shoulder radiating to left arm

KEEP A RECORD OF THE FOLLOWING.

a. Height in cams and weight in kilograms or pounds. From which we can calculate our body mass index which tells whether we are overweight, under weight or normal weight

b. Blood pressure and resting pulse rate.

c. Blood Lipid profile.

d. Blood hemoglobin.

Get checked by doctor and keep the record of the above said things for future reference.

Last but not the least is diet. Well balanced diet is needed to get quick and best results of walking.